Testing a $35 Superzoom Phone Lens Against a $7,000 DSLR Kit

Have you seen those ridiculous ads for smartphone clip-on lenses that promise impossible results? Casey Neistat recently came across one on Facebook and decided to order one to see how bad they actually are. The Universal 18X Zoom HD Clip On Mobile Phone Optical Camera Lens can be purchased for $33 on Amazon. Neistat went […]

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Have you seen those ridiculous ads for smartphone clip-on lenses that promise impossible results? Casey Neistat recently came across one on Facebook and decided to order one to see how bad they actually are.

The Universal 18X Zoom HD Clip On Mobile Phone Optical Camera Lens can be purchased for $33 on Amazon. Neistat went out in New York City and shot the same scenes using both the phone lens on a Google Pixel 2 XL and a ~$7,000 kit ($5,700 Canon DSLR and a $1,000 superzoom lens).

Neistat found himself surprised by what the $35 lens can actually do.

“Well, color me impressed, it’s not a total piece of s**t,” Neistat says. “Having a long lens is important, and if all you have is a cell phone, this could prove helpful.

“So I very gently, very reluctantly, recommend this total piece of s***t $35 lens because it sort of almost works.”